Wild Bill Hickok's Custom Engraved 1851 Navy Colts, and the
story of the Famous Gunman.

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok's
favorite sidearms were a pair of elegantly engraved, ivory-handled 1851
Navy Colt cap and ball .36 caliber revolvers similar to the one
pictured here.

The cylinders of his Colts were engraved with a
naval battle scene
between Texas and Mexico. He carried them in butt-forward, open-topped
holsters that allowed him to draw the Colts underhanded and spin them
forward (called the reverse or "plains" draw), or with a cross-handed
draw.

He must have been an arresting sight, wearing that
two-holster rig with
the ivory-handled Colts, a long frock coat and wide-brimmed hat. Over
six feet tall, he was broad shouldered, with a ginger-colored moustache
and flowing blonde hair.

Unlike many lawmen and gunmen of the Old West who
gained most of their
fame long after their time on earth was past, Hickok was legendary as
the fastest and most deadly gunman in the West during his own
lifetime.

He was reputed to be a soft-spoken and courteous gentleman, but one who
would respond with deadly force if attacked or insulted. Nevertheless,
tales of his exploits by newspapers and dime novelists were wildly
exaggerated. Instead of the hundred "badmen" he was said to have
dispatched with his lightening-fast draw and deadly aim, the total was
less than ten.

The numbers may have been exaggerated, but his
status as a fast and
deadly plains gunman apparently were not. Many, many accounts from
credible eyewitnesses, including General George Custer, spoke of his
speed and skill with the Navy Colt revolvers he favored. It was said he
could draw and fire with blinding speed, and without ever appearing to
aim, unerringly hit his target.

Given his legendary skills, it's fortunate that he
favored enforcing
the law over breaking it. In 1855 at the age of 18, he was constable of
Monticello Township in the Kansas Territory. For a time he was a
freight driver for Russell, Waddell and Majors--partners in a large
freight company hauling supplies to western army outposts--who a few
years later started a little enterprise they called the Pony Express.

During the Civil War, Hickok joined the Union
forces, serving mostly
in Kansas and Missouri, where he earned a reputation as a highly
skilled army scout. The engraved Colts were, in fact, a gift from a
Massachusetts Senator in recognition of his scouting services for the
Army.

During the war he served with another famous
scout--Buffalo Bill
Cody--who would become his lifelong friend. Immediately following the
war, Hickock served as a U.S. Marshal, and even earned a living as a
professional gambler for a time.

Between 1865 and 1871, Hickok served as a lawman in
various
capacities--mostly in the cow towns of Kansas. He was at one time or
another a City Marshal, Deputy Marshal, Sheriff and U.S. Marshal.

His lightening-quick reflexes kept him alive when he
got into any
number of dangerous scrapes, but they finally betrayed him in 1871.
While serving as marshal of Abilene, Kansas in 1871, he was facing down
a large crowd of drunken street brawlers when out of the corner of his
eye, he caught sight of someone running toward him. Firing two shots in
rapid succession in the direction of the motion, he shot and fatally
wounded Abilene Deputy Marshal Mike Williams who had been running
toward Hickok to come to his aid. Hickock was removed from his
position as marshal two months later. Haunted by his killing of the
deputy for the rest of his life, he never worked as a lawman again.

Buffalo Bill,
who had become a showman of great renown, invited Hickock to join the
cast of his new play, "Scouts of the Plains" in 1873. Unfortunately,
"Wild Bill" proved much less adept at stage play than he was at gun
play, and his show business career was mercifully brief.

In 1876, in poor health with his eyesight failing,
Hickok retreated to
Deadwood, a wild and lawless mining camp in the Black Hills of the
Dakota Territory, to drink and play poker. On the night of August 2nd,
he entered Saloon Number Ten looking for a poker game. It was his habit
to find a chair in the corner facing the door, to protect himself
against attack from behind. But the saloon was crowded that night and
no corner chairs were open. No one is sure why he went against his own
inherent caution and took that chair with his back to the door, but it
was a decision that proved fatal. He was shot in the back of the head
by Jack McCall, who would eventually hang for his murder.

Legend has it that he was holding a pair of aces and
a pair of eights,
and his fifth card had yet to be dealt when the fatal shot was fired.
That combination of cards has been called the "dead man's hand" ever
since.